Cataract

Death is callous, strange and sudden
A pious, indignant, drooling glutton
Whose hands are soft, warm, inviting
Whose desperate advances seem useless fighting
Whose ragged tooth should rip through flesh
Which marinates in rancid breath
How quick one turns to a violent death
When cowardice remains where courage left
No guiding light to lead the way
Just rot declining to decay

The would-be hangman hangs its head
To find its victim not quite dead
But rising now from beneath the gallows
A driving force cuts through the shadows

Strike from the heart, cut to the quick
With no remorse it’s politic
With crippling blows to the body and head
Drip by drip until it’s finally bled out

One moment defines a lifetime
No one recalls the crawl or the climb
Or the trembling legs that take the first two steps
Or the moment the lungs decide to take breath

The darkness comes to life
Underneath its cloak beat the blood red eyes
Whose haunting stare leaves one paralyzed

This is the nightmare from which one never awakes
Laughing at the feeble whose whole body shakes
Who pounce upon the weakness and the past mistakes
Whose hands grip the heart and cause the heartbreak
So strike from the heart, cut to core
Leave only the sinew washed up on the shore
Sever the head of the beast with the crown
Never back down
(Back down)
Never back down

And as the light breaks through the darkest night
It finds the victor dressed in white
Rising now from beneath the gallows
A driving force cuts through the shadows